Hong Kong customs makes record drug bust

Hong Kong customs officers have made the city's largest cocaine bust, after finding almost 650 kilograms of the drug - with a street value of about $US98 million - in a shipping container.

The officers, acting on tip-off from US authorities, seized the 649 kilogram haul from a container from Ecuador as it was being taken to the remote New Territories on Wednesday.

Authorities intercepted the truck, arresting three local men including the driver.

"This is the biggest ever cocaine seizure made in Hong Kong," Customs Drug Investigation Bureau head John Lee told reporters.

He says officers found 22 bags with a total of 541 slabs, each with around 1.2 kilograms of cocaine.

Mr Lee says he believes most of the cocaine was to be transported to Southeast Asian countries, but denied the southern Chinese city has become a transit route for drugs smuggling.

The seizure was the second in a week. On Tuesday a 63-year-old man travelling from Brazil was arrested for allegedly smuggling almost two kilograms of cocaine in his specially adapted underpants and shoes.